Lurtz
Lurtz was the first leader of the Uruk-hai Scouts created specifically for Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. He was portrayed by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare in the first film, ''Fellowship of the Ring'', in which he kills Boromir. And he was slain by Aragorn as revenge. Portrayal in adaptations Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy In the service of Saruman Lurtz was the first of Saruman's Uruk-hai to be bred, choking the first Orc he sees to death within seconds of his birth. Attempting to intervene, other Orcs (Snaga) move towards the newly born Uruk-hai warrior, but Saruman halts their advance, intrigued by the malice and violence present in the Uruk's blood, leaving the unfortunate Orc to its fate. He became Saruman's second-in-command, and led the first battalion of Uruk-hai into battle against the Fellowship of the Ring at Amon Hen. Lurtz was born from the first batch of Uruk-hai in Isengard's pits (possibly even the first ever as an experiment), and so was far more developed, smarter and stronger than the later troops which were bred more quickly, presumably so Saruman could amass an army as fast as possible. Given that he gave orders to the otherUruk-Hai Scouts at the Amon Hen and given that he was given private audience with Saruman, he could presumably be called the strongest, smartest and most loyal of all of Saruman's Uruk-hai warriors. Hunt for the Ring-Bearer In the book-series, Boromir was slain by Orc archers, described as having been "pierced by many arrows". In the movie he was killed by Lurtz, who shoots him three times in the chest after chasing the Fellowship of the Ring to Argonath. As his soldiers grab Merry and Pippin, Lurtz slowly approaches Boromir to finish him. Before Lurtz could send the final arrow to Boromir's heart, Aragorn intervenes, tackling Lurtz to the ground and both engage in an intense fight. During the battle, Aragorn stabs Lurtz's right thigh with his dagger, cuts off his right arm, then stabs him in the stomach. While pierced by Aragorn's weapon, Lurtz grabs hold of Aragorn's blade and pulls the sword deeper into his stomach,(feeling no pain, for in the movie Saruman says that Uruk-Hai feel no pain) while dragging Aragorn closer in a final attempt to kill Aragorn. Before Lurtz could try to kill the Ranger with his last remaining arm, Aragorn finally decapitates the Uruk leader, killing him. Boromir dies minutes later. In the book, Uglúk was the leader of the Orc-band from the beginning, with no mention of Lurtz at all. (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)) and (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Extended Edition)) Personality Out of all Uruk-Hai bred in Isengard, Lurtz is possibly the smartest, bravest and most capable leader. He is highly intelligent, cynical, callous and blindly loyal to Saruman. He has an incredibly high tolerance for pain, as shown during his fight with Aragorn. He appears resilient to the loss of a limb, a stab wound, and several other wounds. In the BFME games, he is depicted smashing his head on an enemy or structure as an attack, further proving his resilience to pain. He is also very sadistic, laughing whilst pinning down Boromir. He was an exceptionally skilful swordsman, given he was the leader of the Uruk-hai pack. He had an unorthodox and brutal fighting style that emphasises swordsmanship with long-range attacks and brawling moves. He was also a skilled archer, as shown when he kills Boromir with three arrows to the chest while the latter was engaged in combat with other Uruks. Voice Dubbing actors Video games The character of Lurtz is one of the playable "heroes" for the Isengard faction in the computer game The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth, and the sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II, as well as a boss in the console game adaptions of The Two Towers, and ironically doesn't appear in any of The Fellowship of the Ring video games. He also appears as a playable character in the video game The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and Lego: Lord of the Rings after he is unlocked. Lurtz also makes an appearance in the GBA Game Lord of the Rings: the Third Age as a playable hero for the forces of evil. Toys In the LEGO Game Battle of Helm's Deep, a Lurtz microfigure was given, and which it states as "Uruk-Hai Leader". Besides, in LEGO The Lord of the Rings: The Video Game, there is a playable character which is named "Lurtz(Newborn)". That means LEGO assumed the Uruk-hai leader during the Battle of Helm's Deep. But in both the movie and the book, it was not stated. In the video game Lurtz kills Boromir by throwing a banana in his chest. Obviously this is not the way it really happened. The LEGO kit 'The Orc Forge" includes Lurtz and is the only LEGO kit that comes with him. Background The only notable personality trait he displays is a high tolerance to pain, although he noticeably growls in pain when Aragorn stabs him through the leg with his dagger and when he pulls the dagger out of his leg, but doesn't feel it when his arm is sliced off, and when stabbed through the stomach, he pulls the sword deeper into his body, closer to Aragorn to taunt him and in a last ditched effort to kill him - this shows that Lurtz, as the most powerful of all Uruk-hai, will never give up on killing his enemies. The name "Lurtz" may have been derived by Jackson and his co-writers from the style of Tolkien's Orkish language, specifically the name Lugburz, but it also sounds similar to Lurch from The Addams Family. Lurtz's name is never spoken aloud in the original film; it is only known from the franchise and credits. However, in the extended edition of the film, Lurtz's name is spoken by Saruman. Despite some initial fears that he was an entirely new character, he really wasn't much different from other 'generic Orc leaders' already present in the book. Trivia *Lurtz does not appear in the book. He was a character created specifically for the movie. He was played by New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare. Such was the size of Lawrence, that he did not have to wear the extensive amounts of padding as the other Uruk-hai actors did, needing only the minimum to give him the features of an Uruk-hai warrior. * In "The Battle For Middle Earth" he has an ability to shoot a 'hero' with an arrow that roots them to the ground, much like Boromir's inability to move after being shot. * Also, in BFME (two especially) Lurtz is easily able to overcome Aragorn. *Because Lawrence Makoare's vision was impaired while he was made-up to look like Lurtz, he could not pull punches during the sequence when he battles Aragorn in hand-to-hand-combat. Rather than having Makoare do the sequence over until he could pull his punches, Viggo Mortensen decided to fight back just as realistically - making the physical blows completely real. **Also because of his impaired vision, when Lurtz threw Aragorn's dagger, which was supposed to hit a nearby tree, it flew directly at Viggo, who was barely able to deflect it with his sword. **Lurtz's face markings is an upside down Hand of Saruman. ** LEGO made Lurtz with brown skin, like the movie. But all the other Uruk-Hai (Excluding the Uruk-Hai Berserkers) have dark red skin, unlike the movie. Gallery Image:M750338a 99061462059 Lurtz 873x627.jpg|Lurtz figure Image:Lurtz3.jpg|Toybiz figure of Lurtz. lord of the rings Lurtz.jpg|Lurtz on the move. External link * de:Lurtz es:Lurtz fr:Lurtz it:Lurtz nl:Lurtz pl:Lurtz pt:Lurtz Category:Non-canonical villains Category:Non-canonical Uruk-hai Category:Non-canonical Agents of Saruman Category:Characters created for Peter Jackson's trilogy Category:The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (film) Characters Category:Non-canonical Deaths in Battle